bwerb
10-28-2015, 08:26 PM
Hello hunting friends, I'm looking for any and all advice and comments regarding my first year hunting. Here is what my last weekend looked like...am I on the right path?
I was in 3-19, I drove-up on Friday night and camped (-7 brrr) overnight. Got up and was out on the hunt well before sunrise. The first thing I saw on the cut-block was three Moose...got a photo...middle one was spike-fork bull...checked the regulations (hunt buddy)...dang...a week plus a day off...headed away from them up the cut, saw another Moose on the ridge above me crossing between pockets of trees. Kept walking up and around the cut. Crossed into a new cut, started to see copious amounts of deer droppings. Age was everything from a few weeks to a few days. All different sizes...few larger droppings (Moose?). I hit one pocket clearing just off the cut and the droppings looked to be fresh...like few minutes ago fresh...they were not in a pile but in a line about 25 feet long...images of the deer pooping while it ran from me.
I retreated from this pocket to take up an observation point about 100 meters away at the base of a few lone trees in the middle of the cut where I could see the opening and could see a much greater amount of the treeline all around. I sat there for about 2 hours glassing (middle of the day) so I didn't expect to see much but wanted to give it a chance to see any movement.
I got up, walked down another part of the cut around the treeline and found a new opening into a really old logging clearing. Followed it in and found a really old logging road...it was completely mossed and grassed over with multiple fallen trees across the road. I followed the road, saw minimal signs on the sides of the road and no sign at all on the road. Walked about a km up the road, saw a group of fallen trees across the road, as I was looking at it, saw shadow and motion on the other side of the tree...did the complete "Fudd vs. Bugs" popped my head up, looked at the Mule Deer looking at me, dropped down...popped up, dropped down, flipped the legs on the bi-pod open, popped the scope caps open and dropped prone while scoping the open area at the end of the downed tree.
Nada...deer didn't appear.
After stalking-up to the tree, I spent the next while looking for the Mulie but they were gone.
I found so much sign in the area it was silly. Including piles of dirt which had obviously just been created (are they digging out the roots of plants?)...the dirt was so fresh you could blow on it and the dirt would move, unlike the older stuff I'd seen earlier which was crusty and half frozen.
So...I realized I'd missed this opportunity but had found an area in which at least one Mulie seemed to be active.
I retreated back to my 100 meter position in the middle of the cut I'd mentioned earlier. Saw my 5th Moose of the day heading into the cut for dinner as the sun started heading down.
Next morning. I headed out before sunrise to get back to the old logging road to see if I could find the Mulie I'd seen. Saw a deer trail heading off the logging road and followed it...wow...fresh deer poop everywhere. It was almost like parkland with the spaces between the trees and the grass everywhere. I went really slow and repeatedly dropped down to look around at ground level underneath the needle canopy...nada...saw nothing...did this for a couple hours as I hit the place where I saw the Mule deer the day before but didn't see anything.
I saw poop every few feet in multiple sizes and it seemed quite fresh (dark, shiny and not frozen from the night before).
Is this a good plan for hunting? Is this a place I should return to? Should I have headed out earlier and found an observation point/blind?
I'm absolutely loving the hunt. The land and views are amazing...but I'd love to fill my freezer for my young family.
Any guidance is much appreciated...thinking about heading back for the Spike Bull when the season opens...is this stupid?
Love the knowledge on this forum and am looking forward to any and all replies.
I was in 3-19, I drove-up on Friday night and camped (-7 brrr) overnight. Got up and was out on the hunt well before sunrise. The first thing I saw on the cut-block was three Moose...got a photo...middle one was spike-fork bull...checked the regulations (hunt buddy)...dang...a week plus a day off...headed away from them up the cut, saw another Moose on the ridge above me crossing between pockets of trees. Kept walking up and around the cut. Crossed into a new cut, started to see copious amounts of deer droppings. Age was everything from a few weeks to a few days. All different sizes...few larger droppings (Moose?). I hit one pocket clearing just off the cut and the droppings looked to be fresh...like few minutes ago fresh...they were not in a pile but in a line about 25 feet long...images of the deer pooping while it ran from me.
I retreated from this pocket to take up an observation point about 100 meters away at the base of a few lone trees in the middle of the cut where I could see the opening and could see a much greater amount of the treeline all around. I sat there for about 2 hours glassing (middle of the day) so I didn't expect to see much but wanted to give it a chance to see any movement.
I got up, walked down another part of the cut around the treeline and found a new opening into a really old logging clearing. Followed it in and found a really old logging road...it was completely mossed and grassed over with multiple fallen trees across the road. I followed the road, saw minimal signs on the sides of the road and no sign at all on the road. Walked about a km up the road, saw a group of fallen trees across the road, as I was looking at it, saw shadow and motion on the other side of the tree...did the complete "Fudd vs. Bugs" popped my head up, looked at the Mule Deer looking at me, dropped down...popped up, dropped down, flipped the legs on the bi-pod open, popped the scope caps open and dropped prone while scoping the open area at the end of the downed tree.
Nada...deer didn't appear.
After stalking-up to the tree, I spent the next while looking for the Mulie but they were gone.
I found so much sign in the area it was silly. Including piles of dirt which had obviously just been created (are they digging out the roots of plants?)...the dirt was so fresh you could blow on it and the dirt would move, unlike the older stuff I'd seen earlier which was crusty and half frozen.
So...I realized I'd missed this opportunity but had found an area in which at least one Mulie seemed to be active.
I retreated back to my 100 meter position in the middle of the cut I'd mentioned earlier. Saw my 5th Moose of the day heading into the cut for dinner as the sun started heading down.
Next morning. I headed out before sunrise to get back to the old logging road to see if I could find the Mulie I'd seen. Saw a deer trail heading off the logging road and followed it...wow...fresh deer poop everywhere. It was almost like parkland with the spaces between the trees and the grass everywhere. I went really slow and repeatedly dropped down to look around at ground level underneath the needle canopy...nada...saw nothing...did this for a couple hours as I hit the place where I saw the Mule deer the day before but didn't see anything.
I saw poop every few feet in multiple sizes and it seemed quite fresh (dark, shiny and not frozen from the night before).
Is this a good plan for hunting? Is this a place I should return to? Should I have headed out earlier and found an observation point/blind?
I'm absolutely loving the hunt. The land and views are amazing...but I'd love to fill my freezer for my young family.
Any guidance is much appreciated...thinking about heading back for the Spike Bull when the season opens...is this stupid?
Love the knowledge on this forum and am looking forward to any and all replies.